All American: Homecoming finally concludes its disappointing farewell season

As a whole, All American: Homecoming's final season was filled with disappointing storylines, filler episodes, and an undetermined sense of identity given this season never felt like it knew which direction it was heading.

All American: Homecoming's third season suffers from going against the golden rule of "Show, don't tell." In nearly every significant storyline portrayed in season three, the audience is only given a verbal explanation of the event rather than being privy to the actual occurrence unfolding before their eyes.

Simone's cancer storyline is one of the biggest offenders. Early on, audiences get to see Simone realizing that her body is acting differently. However, once Simone discovers that the result is cancer, her diagnosis becomes an integral factor of the story, but one where the audience never gets to experience it alongside her.

All American: Homecoming shows Simone's interest in freezing her eggs and the aftermath of her treatments but never allows the viewers an inside look at Simone's treatment. By the time Simone rings the bell to delightfully reveal herself to be cancer-free, it feels as if there have been no emotional attachments to Simone's journey at all. It certainly does not help that Simone's cancer journey is just another in a long line of trouble this character has endured between her introduction on All American and the final season of All American: Homecoming.

Still, the decision to have Simone avoid telling her friends about her diagnosis only results in filler storylines and episodes, because nothing can move forward until they know the truth. Keeping Simone's aunt and mother out of the equation for a majority of the plot is a logically unethical decision, and Simone's reasons for avoiding telling them the truth just feel like All American: Homecoming trying to prevent bringing those characters back into the story for as along as possible.

The series finale, "Survivor," places Simone's connection to cancer back in the spotlight as she questions whether or not to reveal the truth considering the rumors and allegations that she was taking illegal performing-enhancing drugs. Ultimately, Simone chooses not to hide the truth, and her decision to be honest results in a standing ovation at the Tennis Championship from the viewers who respect her decision to be honest and applaud the journey to recover she has taken.

"Survivor" also briefly confirms that Damon had not known the truth about Simone's cancer diagnosis until later, an aspect that gets ignored in favor of potentially bringing Simone, Damon, and Lando's love triangle back into focus. Even though Simone and Damon ended their relationship sadly but on decent terms, every scene they have together is more awkward and uncomfortable than that of people claiming to be friends. Where did the platonic chemistry go? Why did it feel like they were saying goodbye for life even though they still shared friends? Why was Damon's return so underwhelming?

Otherwise, although Simone verbally discusses her love of tennis, All American: Homecoming has done an awful job showing that she is actually talented at the sport. While Simone will occasionally be found on the court, given how much of the season was focused on Simone's cancer, her tennis ability has been more about showing her regain her strength on the court, something that gets minimum screen time as well. The cancer storyline even outweighs the tennis plot in the series finale.

In "Survivor," the episode ends with Simone being celebrated by the crowd, which does work as an emotional moment. However, refusing to show the protagonist play the sport in the Championship that she has been working toward is a missed opportunity. Why couldn't Simone receieve the celebratory standing ovation and allow the episode more time to actually show Simone play in the match and win?

In All American, the show made Spencer's junior year of college dedicated to Spencer's final steps toward the NFL Draft, now that his dream was finally within reach. All American: Homecoming has not taken Simone's dream in her junior year nearly as seriously as all the show appears interested in is showing obstacles in the way of preventing Simone's ability to play or getting distracted with other plot points that have nothing to do with tennis.

The main element that All American: Homecoming is interested in tackling regarding Simone that was actually paid attention to and delivered real screen time for was rebuilding her relationship with Lando. Simone and Lando are almost always in each other's presence, with Simone's friendships with the rest of the village taking a backseat so that Lando can shine as Simone's main confidant.

However, outside of being Simone's love interest and someone who has stepped in to give advice to other members of the friend group, Lando has no real storyline of his own going on. He is just there for Simone, as much as All American: Homecoming tried to briefly lean into his desired future in photography, that never becomes a major plot point.

All American: Homecoming's series finale leans into Lando's love of photography a little, but the bigger connection lies with his inability to feel like he trusts Simone's love confession. With Damon's return, the three of them have been here before, so, in a way, Lando's hesitation to believe Simone does make sense. However, upon realizing that Lando does not want to let Simone go, he does present a beautiful confession of his own, surrounded by the photos that have helped make up his identity and connection to Simone. Unfortunately, it is never clear if Lando ever gives Simone the picture book he prepared earlier.

All American: Homecoming had the opportunity to expand Lando's role by showing him and JR working together to bring back Bringston's Baseball Program. The decision to not focus on that not only prevented stronger emotional investment in the plot line but also ignored the possibility of growing a unique bond between JR and Lando, especially with Damon no longer present at Bringston.

In the end, what brings baseball back to Bringston has nothing to do with Lando at all and entirely to do with Damon's signing bonus as joining a professional Major League Baseball team. Damon's decision to help back up JR's club team succeeds in allowing there to be a revival of baseball at Bringston.

For as much as JR discusses wanting to play baseball again and wanting the revival of the baseball program to be a part of his legacy, All American: Homecoming's third season spends more time questioning the true nature of JR's friendship with Keisha and whether or not there is something romantic happening between them.

The unpopularity of this storyline is not the problem here. It is how All American: Homecoming attempts to build up this connection without showing audiences the foundation of how it came to be, then stripped it away in the declaration that Keisha and JR did not have romantic feelings for each other, essentially creating a dramatic emotional cheating arc for no purpose. If All American: Homecoming wanted to break up Keisha and JR's respective romances and offer them a closer friendship, they could have done that without leaning into romantic territory that appears to have come from nowhere.

The series finale suggests that JR has realized that he does have romantic feelings for Keisha, but the show's cancellation does not offer that plot thread any opportunities to move forward.

Keisha did not have a great season either, with her storylines either being all about keeping her close friendship with JR a secret, getting rejected from every graduate school she applied to, or having a love for street dancing. While Keisha did have trouble adjusting to Bringston's dance program, her talent was never meant to be in question. So, All American: Homecoming's decision to reject her from every graduate program feels more about trying to create insecurities for her that impact the negatively spiraling relationship she has with Cam rather than an organic next phase of her career. If Keisha is not dealing with particularly controversial plot lines, she is not present at all.

Toward the end of the season, All American: Homecoming tries to fix it by giving Keisha a role as a backup dancer on tour with people who value and understand her talent. However, since All American: Homecoming barely showed Keisha successfully learning dancing as they were more interested in her struggles, Keisha's reference to her dance mix application not featuring street dancing is more uncomfortable than genuine, as the audience is never given the opportunity to actually know what Keisha submitted to graduate schools in the first place, or why they rejected her.

The decision to have Keisha end the series finale single following her revelations of self-sabotage is a more significant approach to conclude her character than trying to force a last-minute decision between JR and Cam.

All American: Homecoming tries with Cam, giving him a job with a record producer and trying to highlight his musical talents, But, ultimately, this is not a plot that feels like it is going anywhere, and, when Cam eventually leaves the company, there is no real excitement or sadness that he lost this opportunity. In an attempt to show this was a meaningful arc, Cam gets to sign with the record label as an artist at the end of the season.

In the series finale, Cam's biggest arc though comes from the issues he has faced with Keisha and the recognition that their relationship may not be as over as he previously believed. It is a nice thought, but this development comes far too quickly. Cam had only just stopped being angry at Keisha. They only just reached an aspect of understanding, and for Cam to be absolutely convinced by the end of "Survivor" that he and Keisha would be getting back together portrays itself as if there were a few missed steps in their dynamic.

Keisha stepped up for Cam to help him with his career, and Cam did step up for Keisha to help her complete her dance final. But, even though Keisha revealed what caused their relationship to implode, there is not enough here to justify how Cam can determine he now trusts Keisha, nor has Keisha taken enough time to herself to be able to develop and feel better about taking steps to avoid self-sabotage.

Nate comes in and out of the show but does not offer anything truly substantial. It is not entirely clear what her presence in the final season actually adds to the final installment of episodes. Nothing that is going on with Nate has anything to do with the rest of the characters, and it is more of a story created for the sake of taking up time than feeling like it is truly connected to the overall plot of the show. The main aspect that the series finale provides for Nate is confirmation of her admission to Bringston's Graduate Law School Program and how a court case involving her cousin from a previous episode had resulted in Nate stepping over the line and ending her romantic relationship.

Thea's in and out appearances are confusing as well, and as much intrigue as All American: Homecoming may have wanted her to bring to the series, ultimately, the character may have been better off leaving Bringston behind.

Thea was supposed to be a tennis prodigy, someone who played beautifully and understood the game perfectly. But, Thea's reveal that she left the pro circuit because she was losing to fifteen-year-olds just comes across as frustrating. If Thea was going to return to the series, why couldn't she return in a successful capacity? Thea was not an active student of the school anymore and did not appear in every episode anyway.

All American: Homecoming does not even bother to allow viewers to see Thea play in competitions or in practice except for when she is working with Simone.

In the end, All American: Homecoming could not deliver an exciting final installment of episodes. While the series finale does offer the characters a semblance of a conclusion, unfortunately, not being able to end the series on its own terms allows the stories to feel far more open-ended than they should. While the implication is that the events that follow would lean more into positive territory for various characters, there was not enough going on during the season that allowed this series to feel like it concluded in a massive way.